Children’s wonderland

Riddoch Arts & Cultural Centre creates first ever interactive children’s gallery in time for holidays

It is a first for the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre and a first for the centre’s programming officer Emma Telford and she can’t wait for the region’s families to check out The Wonder Room, a children’s gallery that opened at the weekend.

The brainchild of Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre manager Diana Warnes, Ms Telford was more than happy to take the project and run with it, creating the space on the King’s Floor that will be a welcoming environment for young artists and their families to enjoy creative activities that celebrate all the things that are special about summer in Mount Gambier.

Ms Telford (pictured above) used Mount Gambier as her inspiration with many of the activities focussing on the flora and fauna of the region.

“I thought about what we’ve already got within the region and highlighting the things we know children love,” Ms Telford said.

The Wonder Rom offers a series of DIY activities so children will need to be supervised at all times with the new children’s gallery space open seven days a week in line with gallery opening times.

“The Wonder Room was created to invite the community into our beautiful space to celebrate Mount Gambier in the summertime, providing a free outing to families to keep the young ones building, creating and dancing,” Ms Telford said.

Families can take part in a range of self-guided activities that include creating native animal masks to wear, designing a bird to hang on a tree installation by The Men’s Shed, and creating new colour combinations with their movements with the colour shadow installation. The Wonder Room will also have making tables, an interactive felt pattern wall, extra-large building blocks, and the perfect selfie station with a giant throne under a rainbow.

“…I thought about what we’ve already got within the region and highlighting the things we know children love…” Emma Telford (Riddoch Arts and Cultural centre programming officer

Ms Telford visited other regional galleries and metropolitan spaces to gather inspiration for the new space and with the help of City of Mount Gambier IT gurus and other community groups, The Wonder Room has come together.

Ms Warnes said participation was important for kids to grow and develop as creatives.

“The hands-on making activities offer a scaffolded approach for different ages, from sensory experiences for little ones through to paper-based activities for older kids,” she said. “The Wonder Room is an exciting experience for families this summer.”

The Wonder Room is the centrepiece of the summer holiday program with Christmas Crafts this Sunday, for both children and adults, with marbling gift tags on the agenda, while the collaborative program between the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre and the Mount Gambier Library sees activities through the school holidays on offer.

The Wonder Room will be accessible until February 26 next year and for more information on all the gallery’s and library’s programs check out the website and social media platforms.